Fruit picker&#39;s bag



Feb. 26, 1952 E. P. MERRION FRUIT PICKER'S BAG Filed Sept. 29, 1948 riale,

ATTOR N EY Patented Feb. 26, 1952 FRUIT PICKERS BAG Earl P. Merrion, Lake Wales, Fla., assigner to Townsend Citrus Supply Company, Lake Wales, Fla., a corporation of Florida Application September 29, 1948, Serial No. 51,819

4 Claims.

My invention relates to a fruit pickers bag, and it is an object of the same to lengthen the useful life of such bags by certain improvements in construction.

Another object is to provide means for preventing certain grommets from pulling out of the cloth, which exposes to undue wear and strain the cloth that is normally protected by the grommets.

Another object is to improve the construction of the lower end of the bag by means of an improved rope guide that holds the ropes against the outer side of the closing flap of the bag thereby insuring that the contained fruit shall not drop out of the bag while it is in use by a picker.

Another object is to provide a reinforcement at the bottom of the bag body to stiien and strengthen this part for assisting in proper manipulation of the closure iiap and to prevent the grommets at the bottom of the bag from being loosened and pulled out of their eyelets in the cloth.

Referring to the annexed drawings, which are made a part of this application and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Figure 1 is a perspective of the bag, shown substantially in working position,

Figure 2, a rear elevation of the bag in open position, with the upper parts omitted, and

Figure 3, a similar view, looking at the front of the bag.

In the drawings, reference character l indicates the tubular body of a bag; such a bag usually consisting of canvas or like material and having a stiffened upper rear portion II with a curved or bowed upper front portion I2, each of said portions Il and I2 being usually reinforced by suitably shaped metallic members. A supporting strap I3 which is passed over the shoulder of the user is attached to the bowed upper member at its ends as by buckles I4 and chains I5, and the joints between members and I2 are reinforced by leather patches I6, all of this structure being commonly used in the art.

A snap buckle I1 is located at the upper front of the bag and is adapted to engage with a ring I8 that is xed in a bight in a rope I9 by a wire 20 clinched about the two legs of the rope. The said legs extend downward from the snap and through grommets 2| which extend through the free end of the conventional flap 2| of the bag consisting of a strip of canvas folded into the indicated shape and having seams at 22' passing through the free edges and the body of the strip,

and also through a strip 22 of cotton webbing or other flexible wear-resistant material extending across said flap here shown as secured to the flap by the seams 22 and also by the grommets 2| that pass through the ap and the strip 22. The grommets are thus much more securely held in place than similarly located grommets according to previous practice, which were held only bythe canvas of the conventional closure flap. The strip 22 furthermore helps to hold the end of the iiap in flat position, while also adding to the life of the bag by reinforcing the most exposed portion of the closure flap.

Next the rope portions or legs pass through guides 23 each consisting of a narrow strip (about 11/2 inch) of cotton webbing or other flexible, strongly wear-resistant material that is folded endwise about the edge of the flap below the mouth of the bag and xed in place, as by rivets 24 passing through the material of the flap and through both ends of the strip which lie against opposite faces of said ap; said rivets being so placed that they secure the ends of the strip, while being spaced from the rope so as not to interfere with free movement of the rope through the guide formed by the strip extending across a leg of the rope. In the case of pickers bags as heretofore constructed, it has frequently happened that the cords or ropes used to pull up the flap and close the bag have failed to close it properly, either on account of wear of the ropes` or of the flap, with consequent ensuing slackness or excessive flexibility of the iiap. Thus the bight of a rope that should pass underneath the iiap and hold it up securely would come to lie out beyond the side edge of the ap so that the ap would be unsupported at that side edge and would permit the escape of fruit from the bag. Or, sometimes alternatively and sometimes simultaneously, the material of the flap becomes so softened by dampness or wear that it will slump laterally away from the adjacent rope member and so permit escape of fruit. These difficulties are overcome to a very large extent by the expedient of using a strip 23 positioned approximately as illustrated, i. e., so as to engage the rope at some distance from the bottom of the bag body and so as to hold the rope spaced inwardly from the adjacent side margin of the flap approximately in line between a grommet 2| and a grommet at the back of the bag, as now to be described.

It is desirable that the lower rear part of the bag should be relatively stiff, for convenience in emptying the bag and for convenience and cer- 3 tainty in manipulating the flap. To secure these advantages I have secured a strip 25 of heavy two-inch cotton webbing or like Wear-resistant material to the lower end of the bag. Preferably this strip extends from side to side of the rear part of the bag, over half of the circumference or a little more for the best results. As here shown it is fixed in place by means of a seam 25 passing through the edge of the strip 25,

the bag body l and an outer layer 21 that is commonly applied over the lower part of the body l!! for reinforcing the same. Other seams, such as indicated at 28 and 29 in Figure 2, pass through the parts 21, I0, and a folded edge of the closure flap which folded edge abuts against the lower edge of the strip 25, thus making a smooth stiffened lower body portion for the bag body.

The ends of the strip 25 are further secured by means of side seams 30, one of which is shown in Figure l. Grommets 3l, 3i are mounted in the stiened portion of the bag that is provided by the strip 25 and the bag portions 10 and 21, these grommets being suitably spaced from the sides of the rear portion of the bag to keep the ends of the ropes away from the sides oi the bag. The ends of the ropes are passed through the grommets 3|, 3i vand knotted to keep them in place.

While the member I9 is shown as consisting of a single integral rope and is referred to in the claims as a rope, it will be understood that this rope may be made up of separate pieces. And it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many other changes can be made in the devices herein disclosed, all without departing from the spirit of the invention; therefore, I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specication, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having Ythus fully described my said invention, what I claim is:

1. A fruit pickers bag having a tubular body,

means at the upper end of the body for supporting the bag on the users body, a flap extending rom one side of the body at the lower end of the same, a rope having a portion attachable to the upper front of the bag, a pair of spaced grommets at the end of the flap, spaced grommets in the rear wall adjacent the upper end of the ap, said rope having legs extending respectively down through grommets of the rst-named pair and then about the lower end of the bag and through the grommets of the second pair from outside to inside of the bag and being knotted at their ends inside the bag.

2. A device as in claim 1, including guide strips extending at the rear of the iiap across the respective legs of the rope and secured at their ends to the flap.

3. A device as in claim 2, the guide strips being so located as to hold the respective legs of rope parallel to the adjacent sides of the flap.

4. A device as in claim 1, wherein the grommets of each pair extend through the material of the bag' and also through a strip of wearresistant material to reduce the tendency of the grommets to loosen and pull out of the'bag, and wherein the guide strips hold parts of the legs of rope parallel to the adjacent sides of the flap.

EARL P. MERRION.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 986,573 Jackson Mar. 14, 1911 1,337,859 Tipton Apr. 20, 1920 1,986,743 Musick Jan. 1, 1935 2,236,199 Petersen Mar. 25, 1941 2,276,087 Petersen Mar. 10, 1942 2,496,128 Lifton Jan. 31, 1950 

